634 



Indiana Station, Second and Third Annual Reports, 1889 and 1890 

 (pp. 27 and 18). 



The report for 188918 by the director of the station, H. E. Stockbridge, 

 Ph. D., aaid includes brief statements regarding the staff, work, and 

 publications of the station and a financial report for the fiscal year end- 

 ing June 30, 1889. 



The report for 1890 is by the vice-director of the station, O. S. Plumb, 

 B. S., and includes an account of additions to the buildings and 

 equipment of the station, a list of the bulletins issued during the year, 

 a brief synopsis of the work in the various departments of the station 

 as reported by the respective officers, and a financial report for the fiscal 

 year ending June 30, 1890. 



Indiana Station, Bulletin No. 33, October, 1890 (pp. 34). 



An account of the following article was omitted from the abstract of 

 this bulletin in Experiment Station Record, Vol. II, p. 327 : 



Absorptive power op soils, H. A. Huston, M. A., and A. 

 Goss, B. S. (pp. 46-54). 



The importance of the absorptive power of the soil can hardly be overestimated. 

 By means of this power those mineral iugredient-s of plant food of which most soils 

 contain but little, are held in a form too insoluble to allow of rapid loss by drainage 

 and still soluble enough to answer the needs of vegetation, provided the store is 

 jarge enough. The only important plant food liable to be deficient in the soil vrhich 

 does not come under the influence of absorption is nitrogen in the form of salts of 

 nitric acid, and nature has made a wise provision for this element by binding it in 

 the form of organic bodies, which nitrify but slo-wly, and by supplying each year a 

 email quantity from the atmosphere. 



By means of the absorptive power of soils, the fixrmer, if he puts on an excess of 

 potash or phosphoric acid as a fertilizer, does not lose it, but is able to reap the bene- 

 fits from it in the next year's crop. If it were not for this power, the best method 

 for applying fertilizers would be a much more complicated problem than it is at 

 present, as it would be necessary to apply them at just the proper season, and iu 

 nicely regulated amount to insure against loss. 



A brief discussion is given of the causes of absorption, a summary 

 of what has been learned regarding soil absorption, and an account of 

 experiments made by the authors on the soil of the station farm. 



The soil experimented ui^on was "a dark clay loam containing also 

 considerable sand." Samples of the mixed soil to the depth of 9 inches 

 were treated with water, and approximately tenth-normal solutions of 

 ammonium sulphate, potassium chloride, potassium sulphate, sodium 

 nitrate, and sodium phosphate, in the following manner : 



"One hundred grams of the sifted air-dried soil were placed in 

 rubber-stopped bottles, and treated with 250 c. c. of the solution to be 

 tested. The digestion was continued for 48 hours, in each case the 

 bottles being thoroughly shaken at the tud of 24 hours. At the end 



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